Shippers, aided by excess truck capacity, are keeping pressure on truckload freight rates, even as they keep an eye on a potential tightening of capacity in the truckload market later this year. Resistance to rate hikes in the first quarter apparently kept increases to a minimum.

“The customers are being very aggressive in the marketplace, there is no question,” Joey Hogan, president and chief operating officer of Covenant Transportation Group (CTG), a truckload operator in Chattanooga, Tennessee, said during an earnings conference call Friday.

Freight revenue at CTG, excluding fuel surcharges, dropped 3.1 percent year-over-year in the quarter to $140.1 million, and asset-based revenue from its three subsidiaries, including Covenant Transport, also dropped 3.1 percent from a year ago to $127 million.